A Halloween That Will Never Be Forgotten
by HandsomeAngel
Summary: This time nothing will be forgotten . . . not a single moment . . . not a single place . . . and not a single person.


**Story: A Halloween That Will Never Be Forgotten**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt, but my friend, Bree, and I do own Ghostie Molesters so deal with it, suckers! Ha ha! XP**

**A/N: Yeah, I know. Halloween's already passed, but I decided I might as well finish this one, right.**

"_Halloween, hm . . . What a great opportunity . . . Maybe I could be of some help now . . ._" A chuckle echoed throughout the forest.

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"Oh come on, Naru," Mai whined, "It's Halloween!"

"Why would I give you a day off just to go around dressed weirdly?" Naru continued to read his notes.

"But I work all the time! Besides, it's fun to when everyone tries to scare everyone else," Mai clasped her hands together in a praying position.

"I find rather humiliating that a ghost hunter from my company wants to go and see _fake_ supernatural beings."

"Come on, Na–" But the phone ringing cut her off as she grudgingly went to pick up the phone, "Hello?"

"Hey, Mai-chan~ It's been so long," Madoka's cheery voice greeted her, "Is Naru there?"

"Yes," Mai bit out tersely.

"Oh my, Mai-chan, you sound angry," Madoka laughed, "What has he done this time?"

"He refuses to let me take the day off tomorrow for Halloween," Mai pouted.

"Is that so. Why don't you let me talk to him?" Mai could practically _see_ Madoka's wicked grin, but she shrugged and let it go. Naru deserved it for being so mean. She called him over and was about to head over to her desk, but as soon as he took the phone from her, the hated words came out.

"Mai, tea."

Though she was in no mood to comply to his orders, Mai realized that she wouldn't want to be there when Naru started his conversation with Madoka. So grumbling to herself, she trudged into the kitchen, her hands automatically falling to do what was needed. She listened as Naru attempted to argue with Madoka – 'attempted' being the key word there. It would appear that Madoka wouldn't even let him finish his sentence. Mai giggled. Only Madoka could beat Naru in an argument. "_I really need to remember to ask Madoka to teach me how she does that,_" Mai mused to herself.

Naru was just hanging up the phone as she walked into his office with his tea. "You can have the day off, Mai," Naru frowned to himself as he said the words.

Mai on the other hand squealed with delight, reminding herself to thank Madoka later, "Yes!"

"You still have to work today, Mai," Naru glared at her, "So why don't you start filing that pile I gave you?"

But it wasn't enough to get Mai's mood down. "No problem, boss," she chirped happily as she danced out of the room.

Naru watched her as she left his office, "_Damn . . . She's making this harder and harder for me to control myself . . ._"

"Mai! Long time no see!" A familiar voice rang out.

"Hey there, Bou-san," Mai's smile carried through her voice.

"Sorry we couldn't get here sooner," Ayako's voice entered the air, "The stupid monk took too long driving here."

"We wouldn't have been late if you hadn't taken so long putting on make-up!"

"I have to keep up my beauty!"

"More like trying to hide your wrinkles!"

"How dare you!" _THUNK!_

Naru groaned in his mind, "_Will those two ever shut up?_" Then he closed off his mind, attempting to shut them out.

Clearly Mai had the same opinion as she came in with two cups of tea, "Alright you two, if you don't stop talking, I'll spill tea on your heads!"

Bou-san put on a puppy face, "You wouldn't do that, Mai-chan~"

Mai grinned devilishly, "You never know." Ayako straightened her jacket and took a cup of tea from Mai as she sat down on the sofa. Bou-san followed suit, Mai sitting down beside him.

"So what are you being for Halloween?" Ayako asked the girl as she sipped her tea.

"A vampire," Mai set her tray on the table, "What about you guys?"

"I'm going to a pirate," Bou-san winked at her.

"A witch," Ayako shrugged, "So is Naru letting you off work tomorrow?"

"Yup," Mai beamed, "Madoka convinced him."

Bou-san laughed, "You can always depend on Madoka when it comes to getting Naru to do something."

"Or Mai," Ayako smirked.

Mai looked at her puzzled, "What do you mean, Ayako?"

"Oh come on, Mai," Bou-san gawked at her, "Don't tell me you haven't noticed how Naru feels about you yet?"

"He doesn't feel anything for me," Mai denied.

"You keep telling yourself that," Ayako shook her head at the girl's obliviousness before smirking, "But you're still happy that Masako has given up on him." Mai blushed, protesting loudly

"Though I was so shocked when Masako and John told us that they were dating and John had gotten permission from the Pope to date her," Bou-san chuckled.

"I had realized that Masako didn't like Naru anymore, but honestly . . ." Ayako's voice trailed off.

"It was more shocking than when you two told us you were dating: that's for sure," Mai teased them, making the two blush.

"Anyways," Bou-san coughed, avoiding the subject, "where are we meeting tomorrow?"

"The western park at 6:00 pm," Ayako answered, also wanting to avoid the subject. Mai smirked, but let it go.

Like that they talked casually throughout the day until each of them left for home. Mai looked out her window as the light of the full moon shone into her bedroom, dancing off her white nightdress, "_A full moon . . ._" As she climbed into her bed, she remembered her friend telling her the full moon was seen as something foreboding in the western countries. Yet in eastern countries, like Japan, it was seen as something to be celebrated. "_Hm, I wonder what it means this time . . ._" That was her last thought as she slipped into a dreamless sleep, waiting for tomorrow to finally arrive.

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"What's taking Mai so long?" Ayako looked at her watch anxiously.

"She's probably still getting ready," John tried to calm down the impatient priestess in vain. Masako touched his shoulder reassuringly, which she rewarded for with a warm smile, making her blush wildly.

"Besides, she's a woman," Bou-san shrugged, "Women take a long time."

"Oh my, Bou-san," Yasuhara teased, "You seem to know a lot about women. Could you perhaps be cheating on me?"

Bou-san turned to the college boy, "Oh, Shounen, how long are you going to keep this up?"

Yasuhara adjusted his glasses, making them gleam, "Forever."

"Why me?" Bou-san moaned. John patted the man on the back sympathetically.

"Oh my . . ." Ayako's whisper caught their attention. Everyone turned only to have their mouths fall open in shock as they watched Mai walk towards them, the full moon's light shining upon her.

Thanks to her red heals, she was a couple of inches taller, allowing her dress to fit. She was wearing a blood red dress that hugged her figure tightly until it loosened when it reached her hips. On her left side, there was a slit from the knee down, which swayed open as she walked towards them. Instead of having two sleeves, the dress was held up by a knot tied around her neck, her back left bare. Her hair had grown out slightly so that it reached mid-back. She had straightened her hair, making herself look more mature and mysterious as it flew around her in the gust of the wind. She had small fangs attached to her teeth, her lips bright red. Though she didn't put on contacts or anything, her brown eyes reflected the red that she was wearing, giving them a red tint.

"Wow . . ." Bou-san stared at the girl as she stood before them.

"Hey, guys!" Mai smiled at them cheerfully.

"You look good, Mai-chan," Yasuhara linked arms with her.

"So do you," Mai looked at him. Yasuhara was wearing a white lap coat over a rundown sweater and pants. Its simplicity strangely suited him.

Ayako smiled at the girl, "Your costume is really believable." Ayako was wearing a black short-sleeved dress that flared out at the waist into a skirt. Her costume was accompanied by pointy knee-high black boots and a tall point black hat.

"We should have brought Naru along just so we could show him this," Bou-san teased in his traditional pirate costume only without his eye patch.

"Bou-san!" Mai pouted with a blush.

"I'm surprised that you could look so good despite your crudeness," Masako's insult lost its effect due to her smile.

Mai playfully glared at her before blinking as she realized something, "Wait, why are you here? I thought you said you weren't coming."

"Because there was nothing else to do."

Mai sighed. What other reason would Masako come for? She looked back at Masako and then noticed that she was standing rather close to John. Mai smirked, "_So that's how it is._"

"But it's too bad you two didn't wear a costume," Yasuhara followed Mai's gaze.

John laughed apologetically, "Sorry, I was so busy with the church that I didn't have enough time to make a costume."

"Besides," Masako sniffed, "it's undignified to do something so childish at this age."

"Are you saying that we are childish?" Ayako whispered dangerously.

"Yes, I am."

"Why you!"

Bou-san intervened before another argument could take place, "Alright, why don't we get going then?" They had all felt too old to go trick-or-treating so they had decided to go to different stores, traveling the city. Laughingly, all of them went to the café that they had made their first stop, engaging in causal conversation. A couple of hours had passed and the group was walking down the street, laughing happily before they stopped due to a voice calling out.

"Mai!"

The surprised group turned to see Lin and Naru standing behind them. And for a second, the others could have sworn they saw _emotion_ on the two normally stoic faces. "Naru?" Mai walked over to them, "What's wrong?"

Naru's eyes widened as he took in her appearance, "_Oh god . . ._" He willed himself not to think of all the things he wanted to do at the moment. Why was it that every time she appeared, she did something that made it harder for him to control himself?

"Naru?"

Her soft voice called him back to why he was there – the reason for the split-second emotion from before. "Are you alright?"

Ayako smirked, "Well, that's obvious, isn't it." Her teasing was silenced by Naru's glare.

"Is something wrong?" Yasuhara asked concerned.

"We received a letter about half an hour ago in the office," Lin was the one to explain, surprising everyone, "It said, '_Mr. Oliver Davis, you might want to go to Taniyama Mai about now because this is Game Start._' The fact that it was written in blood seemed to make it a rather disturbing prospect so we came to look for you."

"Has anything odd happened recently?" John questioned the brown-haired girl.

"No, not at all," Mai shook her head.

"I'm just wondering what your 'normal' is," Bou-san muttered to himself.

"Hara-san, have you sensed anything?" Naru looked to the medium.

Masako was just about to shake her head when her eyes widened in surprise and span around to face the forest a few meters away from them before turning back to Mai, "Watch out!" Naru managed to pull Mai out of the way as a cold blast of air pushed through them. Though the attack wasn't visible, its effect was obvious. The tree it had slammed against had been absolutely destroyed.

"What the hell?" Bou-san cried out.

"Mai, are you okay?" Ayako scrambled to reach them, quickly followed by Bou-san.

"Y-yeah," Mai stuttered through her blush. When Naru had pulled her out of the way, he had pulled her into his arms. "_God, Mai, now isn't the time to be blushing!_"

"What was that?" John looked around cautiously, holding Masako close to him protectively.

"A wind attack," Lin walked forward calmly.

"Well, that was obvious," Bou-san muttered. Lin shifted his gaze to Bou-san, who quivered under the strength of the glare.

"Yes, but what caused it?" Yasuhara called Lin's attention.

"It was a Natural Spirit," Lin explained.

"Impossible." Everyone looked at Masako in surprise, but she continued to look at Lin determinedly, "A Natural Spirit wouldn't involve itself in our business nor would they attack us."

"Yes, but if it was a person who had a Natural Spirit doing their bidding, it would be possible," Lin didn't even blink when confronted.

"How cruel," Masako clenched her fist in anger. Everyone looked at her, pondering how the always calm girl had become so angry.

"I doubt that," Lin continued to look emotionless, even when everyone's head whipped around to look at him.

Masako was furious, "How can you say that? These spirits are being forced to–"

"They cannot be forced," Lin interrupted, "You specialize in communicating to sprits that have died, however, I focus on these spirits for my Shiki can fall into this category. There is no way a person could force the Natural Spirits to do anything. These spirits probably wouldn't do anything to help unless they wanted to." Masako's body relaxed when she realized the spirits weren't being hurt.

"Wait a minute," Mai looked at them in puzzlement, "What are 'Natural Spirits'?"

"They are 'the spirits of nature' like tree spirits etc," Naru sighed, "Even you should have been able to figure that out."

"Well, I'm sorry for not knowing more about something most people don't even know exists," Mai huffed.

"You know, Mai," Ayako noted, "The effect of your anger is kind of ruined when you're in Naru's arms." Mai blushed and looked away, stuttering excuses. Naru let her go though still a bit reluctantly – something only Lin noticed.

"So what are we going to do?" Yasuhara asked the group.

"What else?" Bou-san ruffled Mai's hair, "We're going to protect her."

"You're never going to stop giving us trouble, are you, Mai," Ayako shook her head.

"Well, she wouldn't be Mai otherwise," Masako hid her smile behind her sleeve.

"Don't worry, Mai," John reassured her.

"_Everyone,_" Mai could feel tears coming up. She wiped away her tears quickly and beamed up at them, "Thank you, everyone!"

"No problem," Ayako smiled.

"Should you be saying that when you don't do anything?" Bou-san teased. _THUNK! _"That hurt! And where the hell did the purse come from?"

"You don't need to know!"

"More like you don't remember because of your stupidity!"

"Better than being an outcast monk!"

"So you admit to being stupid!"

"What?" _THUNK!_

"Ow! Stop that!"

"Just shut up!"

Mai smiled as Bou-san and Ayako argued, John trying to calm them down with Masako standing by his side while Yasuhara was laughing as Lin and Naru just ignored everything. "_It feels like a family . . ._"

Suddenly the wind picked up. "What the hell?" Bou-san cried out.

"Mai!" Naru spun around, knowing the target could only be her.

"Kyaaaa!" Sure enough, the wind was surrounding her. It was as though she was trapped within a tornado.

"The dust is being picked up in that tornado! I can't even see Mai," Yasuhara yelled.

"NARU!" Unexpectedly the wind seemed to rush out at them as though an explosion had pushed all the air back.

"Mai!" Everyone ran forward, but Mai was no where to be seen.

"What are we going to do now?" Ayako looked around frantically.

"What else? We're going to find her," Naru closed his eyes to hide the turmoil inside.

"But where are we going to look?" Masako asked worriedly.

"If I recall, at the end, didn't the wind seem to be rushing towards the forest?" John frowned. Everyone turned to the priest, their eyes widening in realization. Without another word, Naru took off towards the woods.

"Naru!" Lin called after him, running towards the woods along with everyone else, though if everyone was running to catch Naru or find Mai was debatable.

"_Hang in there, Mai! Don't you dare get hurt!_" Naru gritted his teeth, running through the trees, ignoring the branches hitting him. He raced ahead, seeing a little clearing through the trees, bursting through the trees.

There she is, lying there in a soft bed of flowers. Her eyes are closed as though she is sleeping, her hair splayed out around her. Naru's eyes widened as he took in her appearance before remembering why he was there. He briskly walks over, kneeling down beside her, shaking her gently before noticing the note beside Mai's hand. It read:'_You can wake her up, but if you can't figure out how, you should have paid more to the childhood fairy tales, don't you think? I hope you succeed because I don't think you can deal without your princess._'

Naru's eyes glazed over the note angrily before closing his eyes, "_Calm down. Think of how to wake her up._" He tried to recall the stories that his mother had often insisted on telling him and Gene. It was too bad half the time he didn't pay attention. However he wouldn't be Naru if he didn't know almost everything. He opened his eyes with amusement, "_I wonder how Mai will react to this._" Then he bent down and kissed her. He pulled back almost reluctantly and watched as her eyes fluttered open.

Mai looked around in confusion before remembering what had happened. She sat up abruptly, almost hitting Naru, causing her to finally realize that he was there, "Naru!"

"I see you're finally awake," Naru commented dryly.

Mai glowered at him, "Sarcasm aside, what happened? I feel like I've just been . . ." Her voice trailed off as she lifted her fingers to her lips, signifying what she meant.

Naru smirked, "I suppose so the lingering feeling would still remain."

Mai's head jerked around to look at him, "You mean, you know something about this? You know that I was kissed?"

"That would be obvious as I was the one who kissed you." It took a few moments for Mai to take in what the boy had just said.

"WHAT?"

Naru's expression didn't change, though he was quite amused by her reaction, "It was clear from the clues in the note our kidnapper left that the only way to wake you up is with the 'kiss of true love' so that's what I did."

Mai shook her head, "That's not possible. For the kiss of true love to work, both of us have to be in love with each other . . ."

It dawned on the two of them what this meant. For Mai it meant Naru loved her. And for Naru, it meant any doubts about her love towards him had been cleared. The two watched each other, as though waiting for the other to make a move to decide what this changed or didn't change. Naru's eyes took her in, "_I don't think I'll be able to control myself . . ._"

"Naru . . ."

That was all it took. He grabbed her hand and pulled her close, pressing her chest against his as he crashed his lips on hers, tasting her sweet lips. The hand holding hers intertwined his fingers with hers as his other hand wrapped around her waist. Her hand moved up to rest against his chest as Naru deepened their kiss, making her moan, earning a growl from him. Then they broke apart, gasping for air, gazing into each other's eyes, trying to make sense of what was going on. "Mai . . ."

But before he could say anymore, the others burst in, crying out, "Mai! Naru!" They stopped right in their tracks as they noticed the two's embrace.

"Um . . . Are we interrupting something?" Bou-san looked pointedly at their intertwined hands. Mai blushed and tried to pull away, but Naru pulled her back and, if possible, even closer, making her blush even more.

Naru ignored the comment, "Did any of you see whatever being caused this?"

John shook his head, "No, we didn't see anyone."

"But," Ayako continued, "There was a barrier that prevented us from coming any farther. Just now it let up so we ran in as soon as we could."

"But then we found you two in that position," Yasuhara found it necessary to comment, smirking at Naru's glare and Mai's blush.

"My shiki couldn't get through the barrier," Lin brought them back to the topic of the barrier.

"It was generated from spirit energy," Masako informed them, "However, it was focused in a manner that it couldn't have been broken even if you tried to exorcise it."

"Why not?" Bou-san frowned.

"Because your exorcisms purify a being," Masako explained, "But this barrier was already completely pure. There is nothing you could do."

"If I recalled," Yasuhara tapped his chin thoughtfully, "wasn't there wind pushing us in this direction?"

"But why did the being show us the way here yet only let us in now?" John questioned.

A soft voice rang out, saying, "Well, I had to make sure you got there, only after my deed was done."

The SPR team span around, surprised. In front of them stood a small girl, who looked the same age as Mai, with mid-back length black hair and matching pitch-black eyes that were reminiscent of black eyes. Her eyes held maturity beyond her years and a gentle wisdom that struck a chord with the others. She was leaning against a tree with an amused smile as her eyes danced with mischief and laughter.

"Tomoe . . ." The SPR team looked at Mai, astonished that the brunette knew this girl.

"Mai," Bou-san asked gently, "Do you know her?"

Mai nodded slowly, "Yeah, she was my childhood friend . . ."

Tomoe grinned, "I 'was' your childhood friend, Mai? I feel insulted."

"She 'is' my friend," Mai corrected, returning the grin.

Naru looked at the black-haired girl fiercely, "Who are you? Why did you kidnap Mai?"

Tomoe shrugged, "Cause you were taking too long. I mean, how hard is it? Just grab the girl and kiss her. You did that just fine right now." Naru just glared at the girl for speaking of it while Mai blushed wildly, making all the others laugh.

"Tomoe!" Mai scolded. Tomoe just laughed.

"Who are they?" Masako murmured.

John heard, "What do you mean, Masako?"

Masako looked in Tomoe's direction, "There are spirits that look like pale blue-green serpents without scales flying around her."

Tomoe nodded in the medium's direction, "I suppose you could see my friends since you are a medium."

"I don't see anything," Ayako bit out frustrated.

"Well, that can be remedied," Tomoe waved her hand, allowing the others to see the spirits, "These are my friends/shikigami otherwise known as Ghostie Molesters."

"Eh?" Bou-san and Ayako gawked at the girl before bursting into laughter. Yasuhara chortled at the nickname while John smiled in amusement. Naru remained impassive as usual while Masako and Mai giggled. Even Lin had a smirk playing on his lips, though it was probably because he was imagining his own shiki being called 'Ghostie Molesters'.

"Why are you still here?" Mai asked softly, almost a whisper. The others looked at her in confusion, except for Tomoe and Masako who looked at the brunette in gentle understanding.

"Because this is my purpose," Tomoe answered, her eyes shining with warmth, "To watch over those precious to me and protect them is the only reason I have for existing. Once I believe that is done, I can move on. Though I get the feeling, I can never stop watching over you guys."

Mai gave a weak laugh, "I guess not." The black-haired girl chuckled and walked forward.

Tomoe touched Mai's cheek gently, "You have grown to become a wonderful person, Mai." Then with one last warm smile, the wind picked up and disappeared along with her.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

The SPR team had just left the forest, walking in silence, all of them pondering about the mysterious girl, Tomoe. "Mai," Bou-san began slowly.

"Yes?" Mai turned to look at the monk.

Ayako continued for him, "Who exactly is Tomoe?"

Mai was silent for a few moments, "I'll take you to visit her."

"Will it take long to get there?" John questioned.

Mai thought for a few moments before answering, "It'll take a long time if we're walking, but only 10 minutes by car."

"We can go in the van," Lin told them. Everyone nodded and walked over to where the van was parked quickly. They rode in the van, cracking jokes and talking as usual.

Masako quietly turned to Mai, careful to keep her voice low enough so no one else could hear, "Will you be okay?"

Mai slowly nodded, "This is the first time I've been okay since last year when everything happened . . ." Masako touched Mai's hand gently, offering her silent support. Mai smiled in thanks back to the girl before the two engaged with the others in conversation again.

"We're here," Naru told them. In front of them was a fairly large hill with a sole large tree at the top.

"Well, let's start climbing!" Yasuhara cheered, which earned mixed responses. They climbed to the top, slowly trying to make their way past the obstacles.

But as soon as they reached the top, Mai smiled at them, gesturing to the center near the tree, "Meet my friend."

_There under the tree, it was written;_

'_Wasuremono Tomoe _

_The Forgotten Blessing of Our Friend_

_Cherish them before you lose them forever'_

_. . . all on a glistening gravestone._

**Actually 'Wasuremono' means 'Something Forgotten' and 'Tomoe' means 'Friend and Blessing'. So I very loosely translated that to 'The Forgotten Blessing of Our Friend'. I know it's a late Halloween fanfic, but it took me a while to finish since I was busy with other things and I never got around to this. And now I'm glad I managed to finish it.**


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